‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ ‘Motive’ Pick Up Ratings Steam

Fox ruled primetime in key demos Wednesday behind “So You Think You Can Dance,” which joined the night’s only other Big Four original series — ABC’s “Motive” — in posting week-to-week ratings gains.

Wednesdays should pick up some starting next week with the season premiere of CBS’ “Big Brother” and the series premiere of NBC’s “Taxi: Brooklyn,” but things were pretty quiet last night.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “So You Think You Can Dance” averaged a 1.7 rating/6 share in adults 18-49 and 5.3 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., dominating in all key under-55 demos and also edging out CBS in total viewers for the time period. “Dance” bounced back nicely from its summer low of the previous week (1.3 in 18-49, 4.4 million), surging by about 30% in the demo.

ABC, which tied with CBS and NBC for second among the Big Four in 18-49, saw improved numbers for 10 p.m. original drama “Motive” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), which pulled up into a tie with a repeat of “CSI” on CBS in 18-49. The Canadian drama was up 20% (0.2) week-to-week in 18-49 to match its summer high, while hitting a series-best score in adults 18-34 (0.9/3).

CBS and NBC each aired three hours of crime drama repeats, with the former opening with a special “Hawaii Five-0″ (0.8/3 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall) followed by Wednesday regulars “Criminal Minds” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 5.5 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall). And the Peacock went with a special “Law & Order: SVU” to kick things off (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall), followed by “SVU” in its regular timeslot (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall) and “Chicago PD” (0.8/2 in 18-49, 3.0 million viewers overall).